Round 10: Feature Match - Tuan Nguyen vs. Ashton Chapman

by Steve Sadin

Tuan Nguyen has played in a few Grand Prix before, but this is the first time that he's made it to Day Two. And Nguyen didn't just scrape into the second day of play, he ended Day One with a perfect 9-0 record.

Even though Nguyen is playing in his first Grand Prix Day Two today, he still has significantly more high level tournament experience than his opponent this round -- Ashton Chapman, a judge who is playing in his first ever Grand Prix, and his first competitive event in three years!

Tuan Nguyen (left) and Ashton Chapman (right) Face Off in Round 10

Game 1

After laying out their opening hands, Nguyen wished his opponent "Good luck."

Unfortunately for Chapman, that Fiend Hunter was the only card he drew that could deal with opposing creatures – and he soon found himself getting pummeled by a Stitched Drake , equipped with an Avacyn's Collar .

Game 2

Both players kept their opening hands in Game Two, but Nguyen found himself stuck on two lands for several turns.

By the time Nguyen found his third land, it was too late – as Chapman had a Griptide , a Fiend Hunter , and an Urgent Exorcism to ensure that his early creatures were able to take out Nguyen.

Tuan Nguyen 1 – Ashton Chapman 1

Tuan Nguyen

Game 3

Chapman missed his second land drop, but he was still able to keep a smile on his face: "Oops! I thought I saw two lands when I kept my hand – I should have looked closer."

Nguyen had some mana troubles of his own, but they were nothing compared to Chapman's –and Nguyen was eventually able to fly to a 10-0 record with a Drogskol Captain , and an army of spirits backed up by Feeling of Dread .

Tuan Nguyen 2 – Ashton Chapman 1

Round 11: Feature Match - Owen Turtenwald vs. Craig Wesco

by Josh Bennett

Undefeated Craig Wescoe sat down to play ChannelFireball 's Owen Turtenwald at 9-1. The two probably had the best decks in the top pod. Turtenwald had a mean blue-black control machine topped by Bloodline Keeper , while Wescoe's green-white beatdown deck sported a whopping FIVE Travel Preparations .

Wescoe quickly sent back his opening hand, and frowned when he saw his new six. He couldn't justify keeping it, and went to five.

Owen told a little story to pass the time. "My opponent last round was complaining about wishing people good luck. 'Who are these guys who wish people good luck and secretly want them to mulligan and get manascrewed?' Of course, then he mulliganed to five and lost. I told him it was karma."

Wescoe stayed at five and they were off. His early Silverchase Fox was held off by a turn-two Typhoid Rats from Turtenwald. Wescoe skipped a land drop, but then made a few more without adding to the board. Meanwhile Turtenwald had dug with Forbidden Alchemy and and was content to play lands and sit on his mana. Wescoe played his fifth land and tapped out for Angelic Overseer .

"This is dirty," said Turtenwald, tapping three for Frightful Delusion . Wescoe broke out laughing, "WHAAAAAAMMY!"

Turtenwald hit for three and summoned Murder of Crows . Wescoe had Smite the Monstrous for it on his turn. Turtenwald flashed back Reap the Seagraf and began the business of killing Wescoe. All Wescoe could manage was a Festerhide boar, saying "This draw's been pretty Boar-ing" with a grin. Grasp of Phantoms from Turtenwald made the rest of the match academic.

Turtenwald 1 - Wescoe 0

Game 2

While they shuffled they talked about the draft and how they had managed to stay out of each other's way. Scorned Villager from Wescoe had given Turtenwald the heads-up to stay away from green, and he figured Wescoe would pair it with either red or white.

Game 3

Turtenwald led out with Screeching Skaab , getting Reap the Seagraf into his graveyard. wescoe made a Dawntreader Elk . Turtenwald played his third land and passed. Wescoe played his third forest and held back. Turtenwald played Forbidden Alchemy at end of turn, then swung in with his Skaab. Wescoe blocked and sacrified to fetch a plains, and Turtenwald slammed down Bloodline Keeper , hoping to run away with things.

Wescoe was forced to spend a Travel Preparations and Smite the Monstrous to get rid of Turtenwald's mock Cagebreakers. Turtenwald hit again. Wescoe was running out of time. He passed without playing anything, buying himself a turn when Turtenwald had to avoid attacking into the obvious Briarpack Alpha . Wescoe played it at the end of turn, then re-enlisted his Cagebreakers.

Craig Wesco

If Turtenwald hadn't been in the driver's seat before, a Dissipate flipping his Delver of Secrets certainly put him there. He flashed back Silent Departure on the Cagebreakers and dropped Wescoe to just six life. Wescoe's board couldn't answer the flier, and with Dissipate in Turtenwald's hand it was long odds to escape. He gamely played it out, but could not avoid defeat.

And once you have the requisite ways to put cards into your graveyard, you're going to have to fill up your deck with a bunch of creatures.

"For starters, you need at least 14 creatures. And you want a good curve full of things that can trade early, since you really want to have creatures in the graveyard for things like Gnaw to the Bone . However, that last part can be pretty tough since a lot of your early creatures are cards like Armored Skaab that rarely die – which is why I go out of my way to draft cards like Dawntreader Elk , and Screeching Skaab ."

So you've got your creatures and your graveyard enablers, what next?

"The deck has to do a lot of different things well. The deck needs fliers not for their offensive capabilities, but so you don't just die in the air to opposing Chapel Geist s, and the like. "

"Once you have that all taken care of, you still have to make sure that your end game is powerful enough that you can reliably win once you've milled away most of your library."

Smiling Sam Black

But Sam doesn't stop once he's picked up all the necessary pieces for his own deck. Sam also goes out of his way to take cards that would be particularly effective against him out of the draft.

"I made it a point to take cards that would have been really good against my deck, particularly when I could play them myself. Somberwald Dryad , and Undead Alchemist might not have been the best cards in my deck – but they would have been really tough for me to beat, so I didn't hesitate to take them."

When asked if he had to make any particularly tough picks in the draft, Sam had a specific choice in mind.

"There are a ton of cards that make 1/1 flying spirit tokens, and One-Eyed Scarecrow just blanks all of them. Plus, Blue-White Fliers is the best deck in the format by a significant margin, and One-Eyed Scarecrow is the best card against them."

There are a lot of people out there who will tell you that Blue-Green doesn't have the tools to win right now. But if you, like Sam Black, are willing to go against the grain – you just mind find yourself with an excellent deck full of Tracker 's Instincts, and Boneyard Wurm s!

Round 13: Feature Match - Sameer Merchant vs. Dillon Winter

by Josh Bennett

Interest in thirteen-year-old Dillon Winter was sparked when legendary Meddling Mage Chris Pikula snapped a photo of him drafting beside Jon Finkel on Day 2, pointing out that Finkel has a Pro Tour Top 8 for each year Winter has been alive. Now he's at 10-2 and fighting for Top 8. In his way was Sameer Merchant, piloting an Esper deck packed with card draw and heavy hitters like Bloodline Keeper .

Winter drew and passed back. It was a snarled board. While Winter surveyed, Merchant realised they'd made a mistake, forgetting the Scarecrow 's effect. The Stormbound Geist should've lived. A Judge was called and the game state was quickly rectified.

Merchant helped that plan along with Tower Geist , and then played Liliana of the Veil . He forced the last card out of Winter's hand, an uncastable Back from the Brink . So it went for a couple turns, Winter milling and Merchant ticking up his Liliana. He got her to six, but had only four cards left in his library. When Winter milled him in response to Liliana's ulitmate ability, Merchant conceded.

Game 3

Winter mulliganed to six for the decider. Merchant stayed on seven. Winter played out lands and Merchant fixed his mana with Evolving wilds. Winter passed his third turn without a play and watched as Merchant cast Divination , discarding island down to seven.

Winter kept it off the board for a turn with Griptide and got in for one. Merchant replayed it and passed. A sixth mana for Winter let him cast Back from the Brink . Merchant cluttered the board with Markov Patrician and One-Eyed Scar crow, and got his vampire tokens ready.

"I like to make high-variance picks like that. Drogskol Captain is so good, and with a card like that getting passed, you have to think more is coming. I'd much rather take a card completely out of my colors if it means having a chance at an incredible deck."

Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. Only the red cards kept coming, and he wound up with a bunch of aggressive creatures and a pair of Faithless Looting . Finkel said he rates the Looting quite highly.

"I was pretty sure the Burning Vengeance would wheel, and the Cultist is just too good to pass up. I'm playing both of the Vengeance s but I only have the five flashback spells. At least with the Lootings I'll be seeing a lot of my deck."

The third pack was unexciting for Finkel, with no standout red or black cards save for a Brimstone Volley and a Geistflame . There were also strange late blue signals, like a sixth pick Silent Departure . Finkel had passed on a late Dream Twist in pack two, taking a Brain Weevil instead, a card he knew he might have to play. As it stood, he had to dance with who brought him, having more black than useful blue.

He wasn't thrilled with his deck. "I mean, I'm playing Sightless Ghoul . I hate that guy, but with Cultist and Altar's Reap he's barely good enough. It's going to be a tough one. I'm not playing Torch Fiend , but maybe I should."

Round 14: Feature Match - Ben Stark vs. Michael Jacob

by Steve Sadin

When you ask members of the pro community to name the best limited players in the world, Ben Stark's name inevitably comes up. And with good reason. The Pro Tour Paris Champion has found himself at, or near, the top of the standings at just about every limited tournament he's played in over the last three years.

The cerebral Michael Jacob might not have quite the resume that Ben Stark has – but he's still one of the most fearsome players on the Pro Tour. With a Top 8 at Pro Tour Amsterdam in 2010, and four Grand Prix Top 8s under his belt, Michael Jacob is not someone that you want to face with a Top 8 on the line.